Postdoctoral Research Associate

Background

Engineer’s diploma in chemistry (diplôme d’ingénieur), with a special emphasis on biochemistry, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (France).

Master in organic and macromolecular chemistry, Lille I university (France)

PhD Chemistry (2012)

Marie Curie Research fellow, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol (under the supervision of Prof. Richard P. Evershed FRS).

Title of thesis: Regional and chronological trends in milk use in Prehistoric Europe traced through organic residues preserved in pottery vessels.

The work carried out by the Organic Geochemistry Unit at the University of Bristol has revealed that the use of dairying products dated back to the Early Neolithic in Britain (4000 B.C., Copley et al., 2003, PNAS, 100, 1524-1529 and to the 7th mil. B.C. in SE Europe and the Near East (Evershed et al., 2008, Nature, 455, 528-531). My PhD project aimed at investigating the emergence of dairying practices in less-well studied areas of mainland early Neolithic Europe, by analysing lipid residues preserved in potsherds, with a focus on the northern Mediterranean area and the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture.

This research was funded by the 7th EU framework Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (FP7-ITN-215362-2) and part of the LeCHE project (Lactase persistence and the Early Cultural History of Europe).

Research

Post-doctoral Research Associate (from May 2013) – Organic Geochemistry Unit, University of Bristol.

NeoMilk: The milking revolution in temperate Neolithic Europe.

The NeoMilk project explores the introduction and spread of cattle-based agriculture by early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) farmers and its implications for modelling the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Northern and Central Europe during the 6th millennium BC. Lipid biomarker and stable isotope compositions of food residues from LBK pottery containers will provide qualitative and quantitative assessments of the major animal products acquired and processed in LBK pottery (Theme 1, R.P. Evershed and myself). The study of domesticated animals during the LBK (herd management, meat production and milking) will be led by A. Bentley, J.-D. Vigne, A. Outram and P. Bickle (Theme 2). Patterns of animal management and milk use will be chronicled, mapped and correlated to environmental as part of Theme 3 (V. Heyd, A. Marciniak and M. Thomas).

The project is funded by an ERC Advanced Grant (2013-2018) accorded to Richard P. Evershed.

2. Salque, M., 2012. Was milk processed in these ceramic pots? Organic residue analyses of European prehistoric cooking vessels, in May contain traces of milk - Investigating the role of dairy farming and milk consumption in the European Neolithic, 127-141, LeCHE, ed., The University of York, York.